RAKBANK announced AED 1,430.8 million in net profit for 2013. In its maiden year, the Bank’s Islamic Finance division – AMAL – broke even ahead of target, recording a small profit of AED 3.0 million for the year. Gross loans and advances grew by 8.5% to AED 22.4 billion at year-end, AED 1.2 billion of which came from Islamic financing assets.

Total operating income increased by AED 257.2 million to AED 3.2 billion, an increase of 8.9% over 2012. The growth in total operating income over last year is due to a rise in loans, Islamic financing and investments, as well as strong performances in non-funded income streams like Bancassurance commission, fees from wealth management products, investment income and income from foreign exchange transactions.

Net interest income and income from Islamic financing grew by 5.5% largely on the back of continued focus on garnering low cost current and savings accounts. The underlying business growth for 2013 in most of the Bank’s key product lines has been strong but a significant reduction in the bank’s National loan portfolio, which was aggressively targeted by competitors during the course of 2013, dampened growth in loan interest income.

Non-interest income increased by 20.2% (AED 133.5million) to AED 793.4 million compared to last year due to a large contribution from investment income which increased by AED 78 million to reach AED 150 million.

However, overall growth in net profit for the year was subdued due to the Bank taking a further conservative stance on provisioning. The increase in total impairment charge to AED 340.6 million compared to last year’s AED 209.1 million was mainly due to an increase in impairment provisions related to one of the retail loan portfolios and a decision to maintain higher provisions for restructured loans.

Notwithstanding the above, nonperforming loans made up only 2.4% of the loans and Islamic Finance portfolio compared to 2.5% at the end of last year. Net credit losses to average loan advances remained low at 1.6% which is a testament to the bank’s high underwriting standards and asset quality.

“In 2013 RAKBANK continued to produce robust results, affirming the Banks strategy to focus on Personal and SME banking, continued focus on product innovation and customer service, and generally improving market conditions,” explained Peter England, RAKBANK Chief Executive Officer. “We have seen solid growth in the balance sheet for most of the Bank’s business lines. Fee income also grew very strongly for the year and costs were contained, further reducing our cost income ratio, all of which are very positive signs for the future. However, top line growth was affected by a significant reduction in our National loan portfolio, which was actively targeted for re-financing by other banks, and we also decided to take a further conservative stance with regard to loan provisioning throughout the year. Despite these headwinds, our loan pipeline and fee income momentum is looking very strong and RAKBANK remains firmly the number one bank in the UAE in terms of Return on Assets, Return on Equity, and Capital Adequacy,” added England.

During the year, RAKBANK opened its 34th branch, the first in the emirate of Fujairah, to complement its existing branch network in the country’s East Coast region. The Bank also launched the first dedicated Islamic Auto Finance Centre – Fast Lane – in Al Barsha, Dubai to offer AMAL Auto Finance solutions to car buyers in just 60 minutes. A firm believer in customer convenience, RAKBANK added new services on Online and Mobile Banking throughout the year. Even with investments in the Bank’s branch network and information technology, operating costs remained below the total operating income growth of 8.9%, indicating healthy profitability levels and cost income ratio even inched down to 43.8% compared to last year’s ratio of 44.3%

Customer deposits grew by 11% to AED 23.1 billion, of which AED 2 billion are Shari’ah-compliant deposits with AMAL.

Total assets grew by 10.6% to AED 30.1 billion. The major contributor to this increase was loans and advances and the investment portfolio which increased by 8% and 70% respectively. The Bank’s investment portfolio stood at AED 2.7 billion and is entirely denominated in USD or AED. The regulatory liquid asset ratio at the end of the year was 19.8% and advances to stable resources ratio stood comfortably at 88.1%.

The Bank’s Tier 1 ratio as per Basel II after considering the profit for 2013 and the proposed dividend was 29.01% at the year-end as against a requirement of 12% set by the U.A.E. Central Bank. We consider that this level of capital provides the Bank with ample room for growth during 2014.